Sinningia macrophylla
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I grew Sinningia macrophylla from seed distributed by Mauro Peixoto at the 2002 AGGS convention in New Jersey. Although I never got it to bloom, I gave away a number of seedlings, and Brigitte McKnight, one of the excellent growers in the Peninsula Gesneriad Society, obtained very large plants with many flowers, of which I should have gotten a picture, if I actually had a brain cell.
When grown well, the plant forms a large (12 inches [30 cm] or more across) flat rosette with just a few leaf pairs. The purple flowers resemble those of certain "slipper" varieties of S. speciosa. According to the DNA data, S. speciosa and S. macrophylla are "sister species" (each other's closest relative).
The picture above shows the plant grown by Karyn Cichocki. Note the flatness of the rosette (even flatter than S. speciosa) and the red fringes on the new leaves and the red color down the midrib of those leaves. There must be a reason for all the red on the tops and bottoms and edges of sinningia leaves, but only Darwin knows it, and he's not telling.
| Plant Description | |
|---|---|
| Attribute | Information |
| Growth | Indeterminate |
| Habit | Stems very compressed. Leaves opposite, decussate. |
| Leaves | [see picture above] |
| Dormancy | |
| Flowering | |
| Attribute | Information |
| Inflorescence | Flowers borne in leaf axils, like S. speciosa |
| Season | ? |
| Flower | Purple, campanulate (slipper-shaped) |
| Horticultural Aspects | |
| Attribute | Information |
| Hardiness | (probably not frost-tolerant) |
| Botany | |
| Attribute | Information |
| Taxonomic group | The speciosa group in the Sinningia clade. |
For some pictures and habitat information, see the page on Mauro Peixoto's web site.
I thought this was a relatively new species, but it was published as Gloxinia macrophylla by Nees and Martius in 1823. In 1894, it was transferred to Sinningia by, um, well, read for yourself:
Sinningia macrophylla (Nees & Mart.) Benth. & Hook.f. ex Fritsch
Etymology: macro- ("large") + -phyll ("leaf").